This invention relates to apparatus for makeready adjustments to a web press such as is used in the manufacture of business forms. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus which encodes and displays the lateral or circumferential setting of machines within the web press that perform such operations as printing, numbering, perforating and the like.
Conventional web presses used in the manufacture of business forms combine a plurality of stations or towers housing various machines for offset printing, numbering, perforating and slitting the web. In setting up the press for a particular job, the press operator is confronted with a large number of time-consuming set-ups and adjustments in order to achieve proper registration of the various operations required to complete the printing of a form. For example, the plate and blanket cylinders of the press must be aligned in order to locate the printed images on the web, both laterally and circumferentially. Additionally, depending on the needs of the job and the complexity of the form, the press operator must align further apparatus such as an imprinter, numbering units and various devices used for punching and perforating the web.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,730 discloses a total registration system for the different and optionally used machines of a business forms press in which the positional settings of the various press machines are related to common lateral and circumferential reference points so that many of the makeready adjustments can be made in a static mode without running the press. Usually, these lateral and circumferential adjustments are made using indicating and adjustment mechanisms such as a transverse positioning bar or a standard hand wheel and micrometer dial arrangement.
The transverse guide bar with a graduated scale is frequently employed, for example, for locating the attachment of a patch locator plate in an imprint station, or with numbering units to laterally position the numbering machine with respect to the web. Hand wheel and dial assemblies are conventionally used to laterally and circumferentially adjust the position of oftset plate and blanket cylinders with respect to the web path. These adjustment mechanisms were developed quite early in the trade and can provide a high degree of accuracy when used by a skilled press operator. Their principal drawback, however, is that the press elements must be visually adjusted and aligned and, therefore, they are not adaptable to automatic setting operations. Furthermore, the most accurate positional settings are only obtained by carefully positioning the machine elements with respect to the indicator or scale. Each of these adjustments, therefore, requires time and the time required for the totality of adjustments typically exceeds the time required to make a run.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus that simplifies and speeds web press adjustments, and that can interface with an automatic or semi-automatic makeready adjustment system.